"PROSPERITY WITH A PURPOSE"

Foreward

by Sir Alec Douglas-Home

As Leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party, I submit this
Manifesto to my fellow countrymen and women.

Its object is to declare the principles for which Conservatives
stand and to show how we propose to translate them into action.
Part of it is a record of achievement, and that is deliberate.
For work well done carries conviction that our policies for the
future will succeed. Our philosophy is to use what is good from
the past to create a future which is better.

But these pages are not an introduction to an easy, sheltered
life. No country has an inherited right to wealth or influence.
Prosperity has to be worked for. The future will be assured only
if our people recognise the simple economic rules which must be
kept by a country dependent on earning its living in a competitive
world. This manifesto points the way.

Throughout, you will find a constant theme. It is the creation
of a social and economic climate in which men and women can develop
their personalities and talents to their country's benefit as
well as their own. Conservatives believe that a centralised system
of direction cramps the style of the British people. Only by trusting
the individual with freedom and responsibility shall we gain the
vitality to keep our country great.

Such greatness is not measured in terms of prosperity alone. What
counts is the purpose to which we put prosperity. The Conservative
purpose is clear from our record and from our programme. It is
to raise the quality of our society and its influence for good
in the world. We are using the growth of wealth to expand opportunities
for the young, to provide more generously for the old and the
sick and the handicapped, to aid developing countries still battling
against widespread poverty, and to maintain the strength on which
national security and our work for peace depend.

In a world as dangerous as that in which we live it can make no
sense whatever for Britain unilaterally to discard her strength.
We therefore reject the idea of giving up our nuclear arm. We
adopt instead a balanced policy of strength and conciliation:
strength to be used to stop wars before they start; conciliation
to reach areas of agreement with the Soviet Union and the Communist
world which will replace tension and potential conflict. The Nuclear
Test Ban Treaty was one such achievement. We mean to work for
more until the danger of war is eliminated. The way will be rough
but we will persevere. I ask you to conclude that we should retain
British power and influence so that they may be used for such
high purpose.

In short, I trust that the values for which Conservatives stand
and the policies which we intend to follow commend themselves
to the imagination and the common sense of the British people.

WORKING FOR PEACE

Our policy of peace through strength has brought Britain safely
through years of tension and danger. it contributes to the security
of the free world. It provides the realistic basis for better
relations between East and West. It keeps this country in her
rightful place at the centre of international affairs.

The Socialists, by contrast, would relegate Britain to the sidelines.
They are as always deeply divided on international and defence
issues so divided that they dared not even discuss them at their
last party conference lest an open quarrel should break out. Nuclear
abdication is the only policy on which they can unite.

Diplomacy and Disarmament

TheNuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963 has been welcomed throughout
the world. Both the United States and the Soviet Union have acknowledged
how much it owed to the Conservative Government's initiative and
perseverance. But if Labour Party policy had been carried out,
and our country had no longer been a nuclear power, there would
have been no British role to play. We should have been without
influence and without voice. The Conservative Party will not cast
away by unilateral action this vital contribution to Britain's
diplomacy and defence.

We are ready and anxious not only to stop all tests but to discard
further armaments - if other nations agree to do the same and
give convincing proof that they are doing so step by step with
us. That is what we are trying to achieve in the general disarmament
negotiations. That is what we pledge ourselves to work for.

Following upon the test ban treaty, the Russians, Americans and
ourselves have this year agreed to limit production of fissile
materials for military purposes. in accord with our allies, we
shall seek other areas of agreement with the Soviet Union-for
example, on non-dissemination of nuclear weapons and observation
posts against surprise attack. It would be wrong to raise false
hopes, for the Russians are stubborn negotiators and these are
difficult matters. But we are determined to maintain the momentum
of constructive discussion which has already done much to bring
nearer an end to the cold war.

Defence and Deterrence

AConservative Government will firmly uphold Britain's
world-wide interests and obligations. In recent months we have
been called upon to defend Malaysia and South Arabia and to render
assistance in East Africa and Cyprus. These crises have demonstrated
the effectiveness of our defence organisation and the skill and
spirit of our fighting Services. We shall continue to ensure that
they are equipped to respond swiftly and successfully to challenge.

Over 90 per cent. of our defence effort is devoted to conventional
arms. But in the nuclear age no money spent on increasing the
size or improving the conventional equipment of our forces could
by itself secure the defence of these islands. The only effective
defence is the certainty in the mind of any enemy that there is
no prize he could ever win by our defeat which could compensate
him for the destruction he would suffer in the process. Conservatives
do not accept the view that we could never be threatened on our
own, or that an enemy will always assume we shall have allies
rushing to our side.

Britain must in the ultimate resort have independently controlled
nuclear power to deter an aggressor. We possess this power today.
Only under a Conservative Government will we possess it in the
future.

We have put into practice the concept of interdependence within
the Atlantic alliance by assigning our V-bombers to Nato but subject
to our right to deploy them at discretion if supreme national
interests are at stake. The Polaris submarines when operational
will be assigned in the same way and subject to the same reservation.

Western Unity and the U.N.

We remain convinced that the political and economic problems of
the West can best be solved by an Atlantic partnership between
America and a united Europe. Only in this way can Europe develop
the wealth and power, and play the part in aiding others, to which
her resources and history point the way.

Entry into the European Economic Community is not open to us in
existing circumstances, and no question of fresh negotiations
can arise at present. We shall work, with our EFTA partners, through
the Council of Europe, and through Western European Union, for
the closest possible relations with the Six consistent with our
Commonwealth ties.

The principles laid down in the Charter of the United Nations
are as valid today as when we signed it. We shall use our influence
to see that these principles are implemented. Our contribution
to the U.N.'s economic and social agencies and to its work of
conciliation and peace-making is second only to that of the United
States. We shall work for the establishment of its present peace-keeping
machinery on a more permanent basis.

THE ROLE OF THE COMMONWEALTH

The Prime Ministers' Conference this summer reflected the vigour
and increased the strength of the modern Commonwealth. In a few
weeks' time it will comprise 20 nations 13 of whom will have achieved
their independence since the Conservatives took office.

This historic evolution is now reaching its final stages. Of our
remaining dependencies many are well on the road to sovereignty.
A number have multi-racial populations presenting special problems.
Others are too small to bear the burdens of separate statehood.
In each case we shall work for a fair and practical solution which
will protect the interests of the peoples concerned.

The organisation of government in this country and the machinery
of Commonwealth co-operation will be brought into line with new
conditions.

We propose next year to merge the Colonial Office with the Commonwealth
Relations Office, and it and the Foreign Office will be staffed
from a single Diplomatic Service.

We shall give full support to the Commonwealth Secretariat whose
establishment was agreed at the Prime Ministers' Conference. We
also intend to set up a Commonwealth Foundation to develop contacts
between professional bodies in the Commonwealth, and will give
increased assistance to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

Trade and Aid

Today the Commonwealth faces two world challenges. One is political
the opportunity to show by example that peoples of different races
can work together in amity and confidence. The other is economic
the need to build up in developing territories more prosperous
and hopeful conditions. We shall succeed in the political task
only if we also succeed in the economic. For it is the gap in
living standards between the industrialised and the developing
that gives racial conflict its cutting edge.

The prime need of developing countries is for trading opportunities,
and here Britain leads the world. No country is so liberal in
providing them with access to her markets. At the United Nations
trade and development conference this year we played a crucial
role in securing the adoption of recommendations to help them
expand, export and earn. Our consistent aim is wider world trade
and an improved world monetary system to sustain it.

Under the Conservatives since 1951, £l,400m. has been provided
in Government aid, preponderantly to the Commonwealth. Last year
it reached the record level of £175m., more than double
what it was six years earlier. Private investment has been providing
substantial amounts. As the British economy expands, so the level
of aid will progressively rise. We shall also support voluntary
endeavour, of which the Freedom from Hunger Campaign has been
a splendid example.

Technical Co-operation

But aid is more than money. Just as vital is the sharing of knowledge
and experience. We have multiplied our technical assistance more
than sixfold in six years. We set up the new Department of Technical
Co-operation in 1961 to give impetus to this work.

More than 50,000 students from developing countries were in full-time
courses in Britain last year, while some 19,000 British men and
women were serving in the developing countries under our Government
5 auspices. An important feature has been the growing opportunity
for young people to find scope for their energy and idealism in
voluntary overseas service. Through the initiative of voluntary
organisations, and with increasing Government support, the numbers
are rising fast.

At the 1964 Commonwealth Education Conference we offered a big
increase in capital assistance for high education in the Commonwealth
during the coming five years. We shall also vigorously pursue
our proposals for a Commonwealth medical conference, and for increasing
Commonwealth co-operation in development projects and in the training
of administrators.

In these ways we shall seek both to help the developing countries
and to strengthen Commonwealth links.

GROWTH WITHOUT INFLATION

In 13 years of Conservative government the living standards of
the British people have improved more than in the whole of the
previous half-century.

The working population is up by two million and over 98 per cent.
are in jobs. Rising incomes and lower taxes have made possible
a spectacular increase in spending on the essentials, the comforts
and what were once regarded as the luxuries of life. At the same
time personal savings have grown from £lOOm. in 1951 to nearly
£2,OOOm. last year-providing funds for the modernisation
of Britain, security for the individual, and substance to the
Conservative concept of a property-owning democracy.

We do not claim that these benefits are the gift of the Government.
What we do claim is that the Government has created conditions
in which individuals by enterprise and thrift have gained these
benefits for themselves and the country. These are the conditions
we shall maintain.

An Expanding Economy

We shall give first priority to our policy for economic growth,
so that Britain's national wealth can expand by a steady 4 per
cent. per year.

We recognise that this involves a high level of imports, and we
are prepared to draw on our reserves whilst our exports, both
visible and invisible, achieve a balance with them. By new arrangements
with the International Monetary Fund, the European banks and the
United States, we have strengthened the defences of sterling against
speculative attack which could put a brake on progress.

But the long-term problem of the balance of payments can only
be solved by bringing our trading economy to the highest pitch
of competitiveness and modern efficiency.

Exports and Prices

We have improved the services provided for export firms, given
them the fullest credit insurance facilities in the world, and
established the National Export Council to aid their efforts.
But basically our capacity to sell abroad depends on competitive
prices.

No country has succeeded in keeping post-war prices completely
steady, but Britain in recent years has done far better than most.
Our aim is an economy in which earnings rise in step with productivity
and do not outpace it. An effective and fair incomes policy is
crucial to the achievement of sustained growth without inflation.
We shall take a further initiative to secure wider acceptance
and effective implementation of such a policy. In addition, a
downward pressure on prices will be increasingly exerted by Conservative
measures to stimulate industrial competition.

N.E.D.C. and Planning

We have set up the National Economic Development Council, bringing
together Government, management and unions in a co-operative venture
to improve our economic performance. This has been followed by
the establishment of Economic Development Committees for a number
of individual industries.

N.E.D.C. gives reality to the democratic concept of planning by
partnership. In contemporary politics the argument is not for
or against planning. All human activity involves planning. The
question is: how is the planning to be done? By consent or by
compulsion?

The Labour Party's policy of extended State ownership and centralised
control would be economically disastrous and incompatible with
the opportunities and responsibilities of a free society. Conservatives
believe that a democratic country as mature as ours must be self-disciplined
and not State-controlled, law-abiding without being regulation-ridden,
co-operative but not coerced.

MODERNISATION AND COMPETITION

Record progress is being made in modernising industry. Today capital
investment in new factories, construction, plant and equipment
is twice as high as when the Socialists left office. Our financial
incentives for this purpose are now the best in the world, and
we shall see that tax policies continue to stimulate industrial
innovation.

Science and Industry

Britain's total spending on civil scientific research and development
has more than trebled since the mid-1950s. In this effort Government
and industry have shared.

We shall further improve the organisation for promoting civil
science by setting up new research councils. An industrial research
and development authority will be formed to undertake basic and
applied work of importance to industry.

Economic efficiency and increasing leisure have always depended
on supplementing human with mechanical effort, and increasingly
mechanisation must extend to the control systems which link and
co-ordinate the machines. It is an important feature of our policy
to encourage the wider spread of automated equipment. The National
Research Development Corporation, with extended powers and finance,
will be helped to sponsor the application of such new techniques
in industry.

Whilst recognising the Government's obligation to assist in these
ways, we are convinced that the rapidly changing world of industrial
technology is the last place for Socialism. It calls for a flexibility,
and a response to new ideas and requirements, which a system of
free competitive enterprise is best suited to provide. The Conservative
Party is utterly opposed to any extension of nationalisation,
whether outright or piecemeal. We propose to complete the denationalisation
of steel. Industries in public ownership will continue to be developed
as modern businesses.

Competition andthe Consumer

In private industry and trade we intend to stimulate the forces
of competition which make for efficiency and bring down prices.
Abolition of resale price maintenance, save in cases where it
can be shown to serve the public interest, will have this effect
on retail trade. In the next Parliament our first major Bill will
be one to strengthen the Monopolies Commission, speed up its work,
and enlarge the Government's powers to implement its recommendations.
It will enable us to deal with any merger or takeover bid likely
to lead to harmful monopoly conditions.

We shall reform the Companies Act, so as to take account of modern
developments and give added protection to investors.

Competition and free choice are the customers' most effective
safeguards. We welcome the many signs of growing consumer awareness
and influence, and have established and will finance the Consumer
Council as a spokesman for these interests. We shall follow up
our reform of hire purchase and weights and measures by improving
merchandise marks legislation, and by strengthening the Sale of
Goods Act so as to secure greater protection for shoppers in such
matters as warranties and guarantees.

The restrictions on shop hours, which are particularly inconvenient
for the growing number of women at work, are being reviewed. Our
aim is to achieve greater flexibility in the present arrangements,
while maintaining necessary safeguards for shop-workers.

FULL EMPLOYMENT

We believe that a growing and competitive economy must redeploy
its resources to meet or anticipate changes in markets, methods
and machines. But the interests of those who work in industry
must be fully safeguarded in the process. Otherwise responses
to change could act as a brake on modernisation and rising standards.

Redundancy and Retraining

The Government is helping industry to plan its manpower requirements
ahead so that unnecessary redundancies are avoided. Our new Contracts
of Employment Act gives employees for the first time statutory
rights to a minimum period of notice. We attach great importance
to the wider extension of arrangements whereby redundant workers
are compensated by their employers through severance payments.

In the next Parliament we shall reform the unemployment benefit
under the national insurance scheme. Men and women with earnings
above a minimum level will be able to receive for sonic months
a graduated supplement to their flat-rate benefit. Their total
benefit will thus be more closely related to their normal standard
of living, and those unable to find a new job right away will
be protected against a sharp fall in income. Some workers who
fall ill may suffer comparable financial hardship, and a similar
change will be made in sickness benefit. Our detailed scheme will
be put forward when we have completed our discussions with representatives
of the interests concerned.

We are at present carrying through in Government training centres
a doubling of the facilities for retraining men and women in new
skills. In addition, the industrial training boards which are
being set up under our new legislation will stimulate industries
particularly those that are expanding to provide greatly improved
systems of apprenticeship, training and retraining.

Regional Development

Our programme of regional development will expand employment prospects,
make the maximum use of national resources and spread prosperity
more evenly throughout the United Kingdom. In this way, the potentialities
of each region can be developed to the utmost and at the same
time its characteristics retained.

This programme combines the provision of better communications,
up-to-date social services and improved amenities with generous
inducements to build new factories, install modern equipment and
provide fresh jobs where they are most required. Its object is
to make each region a more efficient place to work in and a more
attractive place to live in. Our studies for this purpose now
cover Wales, Scotland and most of England.

In central Scotland and north-east England we are already carrying
out programmes without precedent in conception and scale. Their
impact is evident in the renewed activity and growing buoyancy
of these areas which are looking, not towards the problems of
the past, but to the technological developments of the future.
Thus the places which pioneered the first industrial revolution
will become full partners in the second.

In south-east England our programme will ensure proper development
to meet the needs of the natural growth of population. New cities
and towns and urban expansions will be built to provide work and
homes away from the capital. Consultations are now being held
about the location and size of these developments, which will
be carried out without prejudicing growth elsewhere. We are determined
to check the drift to the south and to achieve a sound balance
over the whole country.

A Conservative Government will continue to control immigration
from overseas according to the numbers which our crowded country
and its industrial regions can absorb. We shall ensure that the
working of the Commonwealth Immigrants Act, which we passed in
1962 against bitter Labour Party opposition, is fair and effective.

Industrial Relations

All these measures to protect and expand employment should help
reduce industrial disputes. They also highlight the lack of justification
in present conditions for many restrictive practices of labour.

The trade unions have a vital responsibility to diminish such
handicaps to Britain's competitive strength. We shall continue
to seek their co-operation in matters of common interest and to
work in partnership with them through N.E.D.C.

Recent decisions in the courts have thrown into promin2nce aspects
of the law affecting trade unions and employers' associations.
The law has not been reviewed since the beginning of the century,
and it will be the subject of an early inquiry.

BRITAIN ON THE MOVE

We shall press ahead with improving and reshaping the transport
system to fit the needs of a modern Britain.

The first essential is to make the best possible provision for
the increase in private motoring which prosperity brings. Since
the 1959 election we have carried out a £600m. programme
of new road building. During the next five years £1 ~50m
will be devoted to this purpose.

On our present plans the first thousand miles of Britain's motorway
system will be completed in 1973. In addition ~ shall improve
hundreds of miles of trunk roads. A modern system of road signs
will be installed, and we shall concentrate on measures to increase
safety.

We are putting particular emphasis on reducing traffic congestion
in towns. In the longer term, we shall apply the principles of
the Buchanan Report to comprehensive campaigns of town replanning.
As an immediate step, expenditure on urban roads will be trebled.
In London big improvements in traffic flow have resulted from
overall management by the Traffic Management Unit: we shall arrange
with the other major conurbations for the same methods to be applied
by them.

Public Transport

We shall complete the Victoria Underground line, and will encourage
the development and use of new techniques for public transport
in the towns. In six rural areas pilot schemes are being started
to provide better bus services in some cases with financial support
from the Government and county councils. fly mid-1965 we hope
to extend' such schemes to other parts of the countryside.

Under the Beeching Plan we are producing an economic railway system
able to attract suitable traffic off the roads by its own efficiency.
A faster and more reliable rail service is increasingly being
provided on the busy main lines for passengers and freight, and
millions of pounds have already been knocked off the railway losses.
We shall not consent to the closure of any service where this
will damage economic development or cause undue hardship. Alternative
bus services, with facilities for luggage. will be provided where
necessary.

Sea andAir

Britain's ports are now entering a new era when great development
schemes will be carried through to the benefit of our trade. We
have supported our shipowners against foreign interference and
passed the Shipping Contracts Act which will protect British interests.
We affirm our faith in the future of the shipbuilding industry
whose current prospects have been much improved by our credits
scheme.

We intend to press ahead with negotiations for the Channel Tunnel
so that an early start can be made.

In developing efficient air communications we believe that a combination
of public and private enterprise is best. We shall encourage the
growth of a network of internal air services and airports to meet
local needs.

PROGRESS ON THE LAND

On our farms productivity has been rising by 5 per cent. a year.
Output is approaching twice what it was before the war. Modernisation
is proceeding apace under the Farm Improvement Scheme and the
Small Farmers Scheme.

British agriculture is efficient and competitive, and makes an
indispensable contribution to our economic and social strength.

The Conservative Government has evolved a system of support which
has provided a sound basis for this progress. It is being adapted
now to changed world conditions. Agreements have been reached
with our overseas suppliers to regulate imports of cereals and
bacon, and we shall continue to work for a stable market for meat.
These policies are in line with our desire to conclude world-wide
agreements for key commodities. Together with the improvement
we shall bring about in marketing arrangements for home products,
they will assure British farmers of a fair share of a growing
market.

In developing our policies we shall continue to uphold the principles
of the 1947 and 1957 Agriculture Acts. With imports regulated
and home production more effectively related to market needs through
standard quantity systems, greater weight can be given to farmers'
returns at future price reviews. The long-term assurances under
our 1957 Act will continue throughout the life of the next Parliament.

Our new deal for horticulture will strengthen the industry's ability
to compete. We offer substantial aid to growers to adopt the most
up-to-date production and marketing methods. Horticultural markets
in major cities will be rebuilt, and the sites better related
to modern traffic conditions. This will help to get the produce
to housewives quicker, fresher and cheaper.

Forestry and Fisheries

The Forestry Commission will carry through a long-term programme
of planting. especially in areas where expansion can bring social
and employment benefits. We will continue our help to private
woodland owners.

We have extended British fishery limits in accordance with the
recently negotiated convention, and will further promote the technical
progress and prosperity of the fishing industry.

Powers of river authorities to ensure proper conservation of fisheries
will be extended.

With the aid of river authorities and the new Water Resources
Board we shall develop a national policy of water conservation,
so ensuring adequate supplies to meet increasing demand.

WAYS AND MEANS

The programme we propose for the next five years is an ambitious
one; but we know it can be achieved, for it is based on 13 years
of solid progress. It embraces rising investment in the modernisation
of Britain, on the lines we have described, and rising expenditure
on the social services.

The money must be found from two sources: the savings of the nation
and the contributions of taxpayer and ratepayer. We have never
disguised that the cost will be heavy. No programme worthy of
this country can be cheap. But it must be kept within bounds,
and related to the growth of the national income. Our proposals
are based on our target of a 4 per cent. annual growth rate, and
on maintaining a high level of savings.

One thing is quite certain. The Labour Party's promises would
cost many hundreds of millions more than our programme. At the
same time their policies would discourage enterprise and savings.
The result could only be renewed inflation and rapidly rising
taxes.

Incentives to Save

To secure a still higher volume of savings, a Conservative Government
will introduce new incentives. In particular we aim to devise
a contractual savings scheme, giving attractive benefits to those
who undertake to save regularly over a period of years.

We shall also encourage the successful efforts which are being
made to widen the field of share ownership.

Taxpayer and Ratepayer

We shall continue to reform the tax system, both on companies
and on individuals, to make it less complicated and fairer in
its incidence.

Local authority services are expanding in response to public need
and demand, but in some instances and areas the cost is outpacing
the capacity of householders to pay. We recognise that a reform
of the rates is required. The precise scale and methods will be
determined as soon as our full inquiries, now in progress, are
complete. These inquiries which could not have been undertaken
effectively until revaluation had been carried through-cover the
whole rating system, potential sources of local authority finance,
the impact of rates now, and the current Exchequer grants.

In the light of these studies we shall ensure that the cost of
local government, and particularly of education, is fairly apportioned
between ratepayers and taxpayers, as well as making changes in
the system of grants. In carrying out these and any other necessary
reforms, we shall bear specially in mind those householders living
on small fixed incomes.

OPPORTUNITY FOR YOUTH

Education is the most rapidly developing feature of our social
outlay. Its share of the expanded national wealth has risen since
1951 from 3 per cent. to 5 per cent., and will go on rising. This
reflects our view of education as at once a right of the child,
a need of society, and a condition of economic efficiency. It
also matches a tremendous upsurge in educational ambition and
attainment.

THE PARTY MANIFESTOS

Our aim is to see that suitable education or training is available
to every boy and girl up to at least 18. These are the steps we
shall take:

1. The minimum school-leaving age will be raised to 16 for all
who enter secondary school after the summer of 1967. This, which
we looked forward to in the 1944 Education Act, is not to be just
"another year at school". The whole school course will
be refashioned to give a wider and deeper education.

2. More and more who have the ability to benefit will stay on
to 17 and 18 and go forward to higher education. This will be
made possible by our plans for the universities, colleges of advanced
technology, higher technical institutions and teacher training
colleges. There will be places for 100,000 extra students by 1968,
and for a steadily growing number after that.

3. For those leaving school to start work at once, we shall further
develop the Youth Employment Service and encourage the appointment
by schools of careers advisers of high calibre, as well as improving
industrial apprenticeship and training. Steps will be taken to
increase the number of industrial workers under 18 who are released
during the day to attend technical and other courses. We shall
continue our great expansion of technical colleges.

Buildings and Teachers

The building of new schools and the modernising of existing ones
will be pressed ahead. The rising school population will put heavy
pressure on our resources, but we are determined to devote a share
of each year's programme to improving conditions in the older
primary schools.

The training colleges will be producing by 1970 three times as
many new teachers as in 1958, and the larger numbers going on
to higher education will mean more teachers later on. We shall
sustain our successful campaign for the return of qualified married
women to teaching. Improved machinery will be established for
the negotiation of teachers salaries.

Research and Organisation

We shall continue to encourage educational research and provide
extra funds for this purpose.

Of the many different forms of secondary school organisation which
now exist, none has established itself as exclusively right. The
Socialist plan to impose the comprehensive principle, regardless
of the wishes of parents, teachers and authorities, is therefore
foolishly doctrinaire. Their leader may protest that grammar schools
will be abolished ' over his dead body", but abolition would
be the inevitable and disastrous consequence of the policy to
which they are committed. Conservative policy, by contrast, is
to encourage provision, in good schools of every description,
of opportunities for all children to go forward to the limit of
their capacity.

The Youth Service

Beyond the gates of school, college and factory, young people
need ample facilities for social activity and outlets for adventure
and service.

As we promised in 1959, the Youth Service has been rejuvenated
through the building of new clubs and the training of capable
leaders. We shall press forward with this work, encourage more
courses of the ' Outward Bound" type, and foster schemes
whereby young people can assist the elderly.

RE-SHAPING SOCIAL SECURITY

Under Conservatism the value of social security benefits has outpaced
both prices and average earnings; under Socialism they were eaten
away by inflation. We pledge ourselves to ensure that those receiving
such benefits continue to share in the higher standards produced
by an expanding economy.

Help will be concentrated first and foremost on those whose needs
are greatest. Special insurance provision has already been directed
to widows with children. When next we make a general increase
in benefits, we shall give preferential treatment to the older
pensioners.

Those who work after retirement age, and widows at work, have
benefited from a steady relaxation of the earnings rule ".
In the next Parliament we shall again progressively raise the
amounts they can earn without deduction of pension.

Our graduated pension scheme, started in 1961, embodied the principle
that retirement pensions should be more closely related to individual
earnings. As we have explained, we are now proposing to extend
this principle to benefits for the early months of unemployment
and sickness, and we shall give similar help to widows during
the early months of widowhood.

General Review

All these proposals will make important improvements in the existing
social security system. This system was framed 20 years ago, and
in the light of pre-war experience. Since then there have been
dramatic changes in economic conditions and social needs. We therefore
propose to institute a full review of social security arrangements,
so that their subsequent development may be suited to modern circumstances.

The review will not be confined to the national insurance scheme,
but will include industrial injuries insurance, the varying provisions
for widows, and the method of supplementing benefits.

Pension Rights

In organising social security the State ought not to stifle personal
and family responsibility or the growth of sound occupational
schemes. Socialist plans would do precisely that. We Conservatives
welcome the valuable additional security which occupational schemes
provide, and will help to preserve such pension rights for people
changing jobs.

We shall continue to make special provision for war widows and
those disabled in the service of their country. The level of pensions
for retired members of the armed forces and other Government servants
will be adjusted as necessary. In the next Pensions Increase Act
we shall reduce the age at which such pension increases are payable
from 60 to 55.

THE HOUSING PROGRAMME

One family in every four is living in a new home built under the
Conservatives. More than half of the million houses classified
as unfit when our slum clearance drive began have been replaced.
One third of the 2,500,000 older houses capable of improvement
have been given a new lease of life with the aid of Government
grant.

This is a vast achievement; but there is much more to do. We are
again speeding up progress on every front. Here are the main points
of our programme:

1. Expansionin House-building

Since 1951 homes have been built at an average rate of 300,000
a year. We shall build about 370,000 this year. Next year we shall
reach our new target of 400,000. This will be sustained, and will
enable us to overtake remaining shortages, while keeping pace
with the needs of a more prosperous, younger marrying, longer
living and fast increasing population.

2.Slum Clearance and Urban Renewal

In the towns and cities where most remaining slums are concentrated,
clearance rates are being doubled. We aim to clear by 1973 virtually
all the known slums. As each authority completes this task, we
shall go on to redevelop out-dated residential areas.

3.Modernising Older Houses

Already 130,000 sound older houses are being modernised each year.
The 1964 Housing Act provides for systematic improvement in older
areas, with powers of compulsion where landlords are not persuaded
to co-operate by the better grant arrangements. In this way we
shall step up modernisation to 200,000 a year.

4. Increasing Home Ownership

Owner-occupation has spread to 44 per cent. of families. Conservatives
will encourage its continued increase. Land registration leads
to reduction of legal fees involved in house purchase: we shall
hasten this process, aiming to complete it first in built-up areas
and then for the whole country.

5. Co-ownership and Cost Renting

Co-ownership schemes provide most of the advantages of owner-occupation
for a much smaller deposit and lower out-goings. We have set up
a Housing Corporation which will release £300m. to housing
societies, building for co-ownership and for renting without subsidy
and without profit.

6. Local Authority Housing

We intend to revise the system of housing subsidies. Provided
authorities charge proper rents, with rebates for those who cannot
afford them, they will be able to plan ahead confidently and maintain
necessary programmes especially for slum clearance, relief of
overcrowding new and expanded towns, and the needs of the elderly
- without burdening the rates.

7. Improved Building Methods

Our long-term plans give the construction industries confidence
to expand and modernise. Through the voluntary consortia of local
authorities and our National Building Agency they are enabled
to introduce up-to-date methods and techniques which save site
labour and increase productivity. We shall reform the laws governing
building standards and safeguard the quality of houses for owner-occupation.

8. Supplyof Land

Our regional studies, showing land needs for twenty years ahead,
will enable planning authorities to release ample land in the
right places and without damage to the green belts. This substantial
increase in the supply of land will do more to stabilise land
prices than anything else.

Where major developments are in prospect-such as the many new
towns and town expansions which are being started or proposed
land will be acquired well in advance and made available to private
and public enterprise as necessary.

The Finance Act 1962 brought short-term land transactions within
the sphere of ordinary taxation. In considering any further measure
to tax land transactions, the test must be that it should not
adversely affect the price or the supply of land.

We reject the Labour Party's" Land Commission" as an
unworkable and bureaucratic device, which would dry up the voluntary
supply of land and slow down all our housing and building programmes.

9. Rent Control

In the next Parliament we shall take no further steps to remove
rent control. Additional safeguards for tenants will be provided
if shown to be necessary by the inquiry into rented housing in
London.

A HEALTHY NATION

The past thirteen years have seen improvements in the nation's
health greater than in any comparable period. These advances we
owe to medical science and the skill of the healing professions.
They could only have been achieved against a background of rising
living standards and continuously expanding health services such
as Conservative Government is providing.

The Conservative Hospital Plan will ensure that every man, woman
and child in the country has access to the best treatment. We
aim to build or rebuild some 300 hospitals of which over 80 are
already in progress-and carry through 400 major schemes of improvement.
Priority will be given to additional maternity beds, so that every
mother who needs to will be able to have her baby in hospital.
There will be no question of closing any existing hospital unless
or until there is satisfactory alternative provision.

Those not needing hospital care will be properly looked after
by community services. Local authorities are expanding these under
our health and welfare plan. Support for old people living at
home will come from increasing numbers of health visitors, home
nurses, home helps and social workers for those who can no longer
manage on their own, there w ill be modern, specially designed
accommodation. Provision for the physically and mentally handicapped
is being brought up to date and will be greatly increased. New
maternity and child welfare clinics are being built throughout
the country.

In these plans for the nation's health, the scope for voluntary
service will be emphasised, and we shall concentrate on the human
approach which can make all the difference when a person is sick,
handicapped or lonely.

Cure and Prevention

A working party is now considering how best we can help the crucial
work of the family doctor. Terms and conditions of service, methods
of payment, the number of patients on doctors lists, and their
access to hospitals and other facilities will be reviewed, so
as to raise still further the standards of good doctoring.

We shall improve and bring up to date the law controlling the
safety and quality of drugs.

We shall also continue our campaigns against the enemies of good
health, by eliminating slum environments, reducing air pollution,
and cleaning the rivers and beaches.

THE QUALITY OF LIFE

There is an enormous growth in the variety and richness of leisure-time
activity. Appreciation of the arts, hobbies and handicrafts of
every kind, physical sports, home and foreign travel-these and
other pursuits are increasing year by year. They are a cheerful
measure of rising prosperity. For the "affluence" at
which Socialists sneer is enabling people, not only to satisfy
material wants, but to develop their interests and their feel
for the quality of life.

The Government has trebled since 1951 the amount of money provided
for the arts. Recently we have helped to bring the National Theatre
into being, multiplied several times over the grants to museums
and galleries for purchasing works of art, and done much to preserve
and open to the public old and lovely houses. We shall continue
to expand this support and to increase the resources of the Arts
Council We shall also seek to promote higher standards of architecture
and civic planning, and commission works by contemporary artists
for public buildings.

Broadcasting and Television

Broadcasting in Britain has always been regarded as a medium for
providing information, education and entertainment. For all these
elements to find effective expression, viewers and listeners must
be given the widest possible choice of programmes. This is why
we introduced I.T.V., authorised BBC-2, and have licensed experiments
in Pay-as-you-view television by wire.

We wish to extend the range of choice still further. That will
be our object when considering proposals for the fourth television
channel and for the establishment of a system of local sound radio.

Sport

Capital outlay for sport and physical recreation has increased
fourfold in four years. But there remains a need in and around
the towns and cities for many more sports grounds, playing fields,
running tracks, swimming baths and gymnasia. Local authorities
have been advised on how to combine with their neighbours for
the larger projects, and a substantial programme will be authorised.

Countryside Commission

In the countryside we must satisfy the need for recreational facilities
without harm to rural and farming interests.

We propose to set up a countryside commission with sufficient
resources to secure the positive care of countryside and coast,
including the national parks. It will be charged with promoting
the systematic clearance in these localities of derelict land
and other eyesores. Whilst strictly safeguarding secluded areas,
the commission will advise planning authorities on the designation
of recreation areas" where boating, climbing, gliding and
similar activities will be welcome.

FREEDOM AND ORDER

The consistent aim of Conservative policy is to uphold the British
way of life, centred upon the dignity and liberty of the individual.

To this end we swept away Socialist restrictions and restored
freedom of enterprise and choice. We safeguarded individual rights
at tribunals and inquiries along the lines suggested by the Franks
Report. We have made reforms in the composition of the House of
Lords, the procedure of the House of Commons, and the structure
of local government. We have taken measures to protect the public
against lawlessness and introduced compensation for the victims
of violent crime.

We intend to continue this work of modernising our institutions
and strengthening the rule of law.

We shall propose to the newly elected House of Commons the immediate
establishment of a select committee to consider further reforms
in parliamentary procedure. It will be asked as matters of priority
to review the methods for scrutinising public expenditure and
to consider ways of speeding up the passage of many technical
and relatively uncontroversial law reform Bills which we intend
to bring forward. It will also have the opportunity to consider
whether adequate means are available to members of Parliament
to secure the redress of genuine complaints of maladministration.

A Conservative Government will call an all-party conference presided
over by the Speaker to review electoral law. Among the changes
it should consider is an extension of postal voting, since two-thirds
of the nation now take holidays away from home.

In completing the reorganisation of local government, we shall
aim to produce a system giving full scope to local knowledge,
and capable of discharging within our regional plans the increasing
responsibilities inseparable from rising population, living standards
and car ownership.

We have appointed a committee to advise us on the best methods
to stimulate and finance social studies both basic and applied,
and we shall take action as soon as it reports.

Upholding Law

We shall continue to build up the strength of the police forces,
and see that they are equipped with every modern scientific aid.
A royal commission has been set up to report on sentencing policies
and the most effective methods for the treatment of offenders.
We have asked it to give urgent priority to the growing problem
of crime among the young. Meanwhile, we have increased the penalties
for malicious damage and the compensation to those who suffer
from this form of hooliganism.

The system of after-care will be developed on comprehensive lines,
to save offenders from returning to crime.

Much juvenile delinquency originates in broken or unhappy homes.
We shall continue to support the work of marriage guidance. Local
authorities will be encouraged, in co-operation with voluntary
bodies, to develop their services of child care for young people
deprived of normal home life and affection.

We shall extend legal aid to all care and protection cases in
juvenile courts and, as resources permit, to tribunal cases beginning
with the Lands Tribunal.

THE NATION'S CHOICE

We are issuing, simultaneously with this manifesto, special statements
recording our achievements and plans in Scotland and in Wales.
These demonstrate our regard for the distinctive rights and problems
of each nation. They also show how our programmes are designed
to secure the even spread of prosperity throughout Great Britain.

A Conservative and Unionist Government will continue to support
the Government of Northern Ireland in developing and diversifying
the economy, and so providing new employment. It is a cardinal
principle of our policy that Northern Ireland's partnership with
Great Britain in the United Kingdom shall remain unchanged so
long as that is the wish of the Parliament at Stormont.

We have now shown the extent to which, by building upon past progress,
fresh advances can be made with a Conservative Government in the
next five years.

But we warn the nation that both the gains of the past and the
hopes of the future would be imperilled by Socialism.

On examination, what the Labour Parry have to offer is not a "New
Britain", but a camouflaged return to the dreary doctrines
which had already proved a failure when they were last dismissed
from office.

What we are offering is an extension of that prosperity - prosperity
with a purpose - which our policies have been proved to achieve.